There’s something not quite right about The House, an exclusive sorority where every member is astoundingly gorgeous and successful without ever having to give up the things she loves to accomplish it. That’s why Nina Kaur wants so badly to be a part of that group, because it will mean the end of all her self-doubt and fear, all while catapulting her into a world of esteem she craves. At the same time that Nina is looking to be cleansed of all her self-doubt so she can begin her ascent, adjunct professor Dr. Sloane Hartley is trying to recapture the momentum of her earlier success after giving birth and dealing with her girl-dad husband who isn’t as engaged a partner as he believes himself to be. Sloane notices the strangeness of The House and its occupants, and soon gets tapped to be a part of the organization, but once Nina and Sloane find themselves with a seat at the table, they soon realize that there might be a far higher cost than they realized to earn success.
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake is an intriguing meditation on all the expectations placed on women that simultaneously push them to succeed while also undermining their overall well-being. While The House is a place where all things are possible, Blake offers an intriguing path through the contradictions women must navigate as they make their way through both their person and professional lives, which culminates in a conclusion that makes some sense from a metaphorical standpoint, and certainly adheres well with the rest of the narrative arc, which makes it a fairly solid story from a technical standpoint.
As a reader, Girl Dinner offered what most of Blake’s work provides: a solid cast of characters rendered in a compelling fashion, which added a layer of depth to the discussion of modern womanhood that Blake presents. Her skill with characters and the willingness to consider the darker aspects of culture, whether it be around academic work as Blake explored in The Atlas Six or modern womanhood as she did with Girl Dinner, presents an opportunity to see a different story about the impact of expectations, the difficulty with navigating contradictions, and how even the best intentions have the potential to lead down a dark path.
For casual readers, Girl Dinner would appeal to anyone who’s interested in some of Blake’s other books, but it would also appeal to those who are interested in mysteries that seek to undermine accepted understandings of what it means to be a woman in the modern age. Given how Blake plays with the inherent contradictions in what society expects of women through the lens of a mystery, it’s possible that casual readers looking for a book that offers a university-based thriller-like plot that centers a female protagonist would enjoy Girl Dinner.
For writers, there are several useful lessons that can be pulled from Blake’s book, but the largest would be how to deal with a diverse cast of characters that represent differing ideals about cultural archetypes. Girl Dinner’s exploration of modern womanhood delves into all the typical frameworks that most modern readers would know: the mother, the corporate woman, the trad wife, and others, including several who still believe it’s possible to have it all without some kind of cost. Blake’s management of these characters is unique, as it simultaneously leans into the archetype and still presents the characters as more than that, which is useful for most writers in better understanding how to improve the rendering of the characters in their own stories.
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Next Up: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Read
A Final Note
The Coffeehouse Creative is a place to flex creative muscle while working on other projects. That means that alongside book reviews, you’re likely to find:
Travel pieces that have brought joy the writer’s life
Reflections on writing and the life that it brings with it
Recommendations on marketing and management practices
Notes from a graduate student looking to survive the studies
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